


Outside.

by orphan_account



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, polyamory is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-07-31
Updated: 2012-07-31
Packaged: 2017-11-11 03:33:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/474052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce wishes he could stay outside.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Outside.

Bruce’s head turned when he heard the screech. Tony had his arm wrapped around Pepper, and she was kicking and flailing against him with a giant smile on her face that let Bruce know most of the noise was for show. She was thrown into the pool in a brilliant arc, and came up to grab Tony’s ankles and pull him in too. Bruce watched Tony fall on top of her, watched them kiss and laugh and keep their eyes only on each other. Bruce took another long sip of his island-y drink (daiquiri-ish in nature) and kept watching with a knowing smile on his face.

He’d seen it before. The way they literally had eyes for no one else when they were in the same room together, the way Tony didn’t even bother to hide her loss if she was gone for any significant time. He’d been expecting more tension between them, maybe, with her being a CEO and him being, well, Iron Man, but it seemed easy, fluid. Well, okay. A very fluid rollercoaster, how they bickered and then kissed and then bickered and kissed again. But at least it was a reliable, and that was a lot better than he could say about himself, what with his emotional problems that actually had a physical form.

“Bruce!” His head turned, and he smiled and waved at Tony from the pool’s deck. “Watch this!” Pepper shrieked as he threw her over his head, and Bruce laughed. What Tony was really doing was showing her off. He even dove after her and scooped Pepper up in his arms to kiss her, or try to kiss her; Pepper was half-heartedly pushing his kissing face away with that heart-stoppingly gorgeous grin on her face he knew Tony was trying to coax out of her with his whole display.

He was alright with the outside looking in thing. Safe, comfortable. Distance was his ally and an important tool to keep himself in check. So if he felt anything it got choked down somewhere, stored in the ache in his joints and the gray in his hair and nowhere too close to his heart. He wondered, with the way Tony turned back to grin to him, if it even crossed Tony’s mind that he could be jealous, or if something about Bruce’s person made Tony know otherwise, or if Tony thought he could be jealous and knew he wouldn’t do a damn thing but break in some teak deck chairs as he sat and watched them together. All of these were equally possible for his genius, thoughtful, thoughtless friend. And he wasn’t actually sure which one would be the truest.

“Come on, Bruce! Swim with us!” Bruce smiled at Pepper as she waved him down, and set his daiquiri on the extremely-ridiculous-and-he-hoped-temporary tiki bar. Tony had said something about giving Pepper a real vacation, since all she got to do in all the different countries she went to was “talk smack” to other CEOs, in Tony’s own words. It was hard to deny Pepper anything because it seemed like she deserved everything, and a twist of guilt twisted through Bruce’s stomach. Even though he knew she knew about him and Tony and she’d said that it was fine, he felt like he was taking something away.

When Bruce finally reached the pool Tony’s cold, wet hand patted his leg. “What’s with you? You’ve been out of it all day.” He jerked his head towards Pepper and made some sort of pained expression that Bruce roughly translated to “act better than this, Banner.” He put on a smile and slid his shirt over his head before he slipped into the shallow end with them. Even though he was suspended in the water for just a few seconds before he could touch the bottom, it felt like his little private eternity; breaking into somewhere he wasn’t quite meant to be. Pepper and Tony both were looking at him expectantly, and he realized too slowly he hadn’t said anything to them.

“Uh. I really like your swimsuit, Pepper.” She grinned, and Tony grinned back.

“Told you he was checking you out.”

“Dammit, Tony.” Bruce turned to Pepper. “No, seriously. It looks… nice.” Alright, so he wasn’t so great with the fashion talk. Or disproving Tony’s points.

She gave him a polite thank you, a calculated touch on his arm. “I got it in Milan. I think. God, doesn’t that sound so ridiculous? I can’t even remember where I got this.”

“Yes, absolutely ridiculous. I mean, you usually remember everything; what has happened to the famous Pepper Potts?” Tony grinned and Pepper smacked his arm.

“You know what I meant.” Bruce rocked on his heels on the bottom of the pool during their meaningless squabbling. No, not meaningless. Calculated, that was it. It was just as calculated as everything else the two of them did, and just as spit-fire. Like a challenge, of sorts.

“Bruce, hey.” Tony was pulling on his arm, now. “Seriously, are you okay?” If that was some sort of sly dig, Bruce really didn’t appreciate it.

“I’m fine. I think the heat’s getting to me or something.” It was approximately 75 degrees with an upswing of cold air on the side of the building, not to mention he was standing in the middle of a pool. He would have crafted a better lie if he cared enough to. Part of him really wanted Tony to see right through him. Tony’s hand squeezed his shoulder.

“Look at you, pampered by the New York climate already. Why don’t you go inside and cool off, then, and me and Pep will meet you for lunch?” He jerked his head over to her again, in her pretty shimmery emerald one piece that was probably laced with diamonds or something. She really did deserve it all. Bruce could take a hint, so he climbed out and gave them both a weak smile before heading inside the patio and back to the living room, where he couldn’t see or hear them.

He wondered how long it would take them to notice if he just left, fled from the spot in this exact instant, if Tony really meant they could all eat lunch together later. The answer wasn’t worth the risk or the effort, so he stirred honey into his tea and told JARVIS to turn the thermostat down so his excuse wouldn’t seem like a gross lie. They weren’t stupid. Even if he got called out, what would he say? Yes, I care a lot more about your boyfriend than originally planned? God, it even sounded stupid in his head.


End file.
